


Crushing Grass and Crushing on Stable Boys

by clxude



Series: anima vinculum [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, M/M, and yachi is his bison, avatar AU, but something did, idk what just happened, part two of something else, pls just read it i'm thirsty, sugawara is an air bender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 19:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5941123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clxude/pseuds/clxude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sugawara’s sky bison isn’t sick, but Suga will say Yachi is if it means seeing the stable boy.</p><p>/can be read alone/<br/>/no prior knowledge of avatar is needed/</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crushing Grass and Crushing on Stable Boys

It was cold up in the mountains. Sugawara shivered, the beads of sweat trailing down his back felt like ice. Yachi radiated heat like a furnace, but most of it remained trapped under her harness.

 

Winter was quickly approaching. Snow already capped the mountains, stark against the looming rocky crags.

 

As the eastern air temple came into view, Suga smiled. It felt nice to be home after so long. He enjoyed the Fire Nation and its warm climate, and Kozume-sama, the new Firelord, was kind, if a little quiet, but the mountains here were his home.

 

Yachi landed soon, her wide tail kicking up dust. He jumped off of her carrier, stilling the air around them as he landed.

 

A flying lemur landed on Yachi; children screamed as they raced on balls of air. The smell of baking filled the air. It was nice to be home, even if it was a little cold.

 

...

 

Yachi flew to the grazing field before sunset. Sugawara watched her leave. He missed her immediately, but knew that she was happier with the other bison than in his cramped room in the monastery.

 

As she flew further into the mountain range, Sugawara thought about following her. He wanted to; he loved to watch her interact with her herd. He couldn’t though, not this time.

 

...

 

“How was your stay in the Fire Nation?” The room was dark, smelling heavily of herbal tea. It was suffocating and unbearably hot; Sugawara dreaded the room every time he returned from a diplomatic mission. “I presume you became well acquainted with the new Firelord?”

 

Sugawara thought back to his time out of the country. The Fire Nation was louder and more flamboyant. The majority of people in the island capital were kind, at least until he met the royal advisors of Firelord Kozume-sama. The Firelord was young, twenty at most, and they constantly undermined him in council meetings.

 

Kozume Kenma didn’t seem to mind what they said the majority of the time, unless it was an offhand comment about one of the royal guard.

 

‘ _Stop it, Washio-san,’ Smoke rose from Kozume-sama’s finger tips._

_‘The council doesn’t approve of your relationship with- ‘ Washio-san argued back. He clenched his fist._

_Sugawara could see how the words effected the young Firelord. The council wanted him knocked down, even if Kozume-sama could have them dead the moment they fell out of favor._

_‘I was unaware of the current state of the Fire Nation,’ Sugawara knew he was out of turn, but the words silenced the council. The Firelord glanced at him, shock riddling his features. ‘Many of you mock the lack of government over the air nomads, but we have peace. We respect our leaders and all those around us, unlike you.’_

_He stood, and walked out of the council room. The smell of burning silk trailed behind him like cherry blossoms._

Sugawara didn’t understand until he saw the young leader kissing the captain of his guard outside his window. They seemed happy together.

 

“Rebellion is possible under his rule.” Sugawara finally answered. “His council seemed unsatisfied with his leadership,” _How much can you say before you destroy something?_ “Mostly likely because of his young age. But at the current moment, Kozume-sama is a potential ally.”

 

“How certain are you of this?” The elder monk’s voice grated at his spine.

 

“Extremely,”

 

...

 

When he woke, he flew to the bison field. Yachi ran to him when he landed, licking him and leaving him drenched. He laughed, petting her nose. She knocked him down into the grass before falling on top of him. Her belly was fuzzy and warm, heating him up from the chill morning mist.

 

“I missed you, Yachi,” He whispered as he carded his fingers through her fur. She was crushing him and smelled horrible, but she was his, and he, hers. Being apart, even for a single night, felt like a year after a lifetime of their companionship.

 

“Is she yours?” Someone asked as he climbed out from under her.

 

Suga glanced back. He was attractive, with short brown hair and piercing eyes. His smile was kind, but it took Sugawara a moment to realize that he was smiling at the bison and not at the gray-haired monk. If bothered him initially, but Sugawara could sympathize. He often reacted the same way when seeing new bison for the first time. They were all so different, with unique facial features and little mannerisms.  

 

“Yeah,” he tilted his head and smiled, “My little baby, Yachi.”

 

“She missed you last night. She kept calling,” That didn’t surprise Suga. Yachi was needy and reliant even when they were together.

 

“I’m usually with her all the time, the poor thing gets lonely.” He sighed before jumping onto Yachi’s head and grabbing her reins. “I need to take her for a bath so...”

 

“I’ll see you later then,” the man smiled and waved.

 

“See you,” _I hope so._

_..._

Sugawara Koushi always forgot how bad at landing Yachi was until the last second. She wasn’t the most...graceful of creatures by any means. Her landings were more like belly flops with minimal effort and a soft cushion of air to stop her from breaking every single one of her bones.

 

She landed in the small lake with an enormous _whoosh._ Water swelled up around them, leaving Sugawara soaked. He sighed before blasting himself with wind. His hair was a fluffy mess, but at least he was dry for the moment. Even if he had to get back in the water soon.

 

He didn’t want to move from where he was high and dry. The water was freezing. He had no desire to go swimming beside ice, not even when Yachi smelled revolting.

 

“I hope you know I love you, Yachi-chan,” He says before leaping off her back and into the lake.

 

He nearly screamed once the water covered his head. It’s just so _cold,_ biting into his bones until he can’t think straight. He surfaces fast, bends the air so the soap bar falls into his hand, and began washing the bison.

 

It took a long time, his hands were shaking so much, but eventually Yachi started smelling more like soap and less like a pile of rotting cabbage. He shivered as he climbed out of the water, and even once he was dry, Suga was still freezing.

 

“Yachi,” he whined when he saw his bison was now _frolicking in freezing water._ “Get out already. I want to go home.”

 

Yachi looked back at him from the middle of the lake were she had been licking an ice chunk, and a look akin to regret filled her huge eyes. She swam towards the edge of the lake before clawing her way onto the frozen grass. Ice coated her fur, and some of it smacked him in the face when a particularly strong gust of wind dried Yachi’s fur.

 

“It’s a good thing I love you, Yachi.”

 

...

 

Riding Yachi through the ice-covered mountains back to the temple isn’t on of Sugawara’s top experiences. It’s somewhere above getting his tattoos and below nearly dying while baking with his sempai _years_ ago. There was a whole host of things he would rather be doing, the top of which included drinking tea near a fireplace.

 

The list, however, didn’t include running into _him_ at the stable.

 

Nothing included him.

 

...

 

“Oh, sorry,” he ducked to pick up the bar of soap Sugawara had dropped when they walked into each other.

 

He was still cold, fucking shaking and coughing up his lungs. Yachi was outside, waiting for him and calling in her low pitched growl.

 

“It’s fine,” Suga laughed, his cheeks dusted with pink. He always made Sugawara blushed, even when the man popped into his head in the middle of the night. Especially in the middle of the night.

 

When he stood, he cocked his head. His words sounded almost shocked. “You’re him aren’t you, the one from the field?”

 

“Oh, yeah.” And Suga shouldn’t have been so surprised. The Eastern Air Temple was fairly small, and the chances of never seeing the dark haired man were nonexistent. “That’s me.”

 

“I’m Daichi,” Daichi smiled, and Sugawara could have sworn he died in that moment and was now in the spirit world. “The new bison hearer.”

 

“Sugawara, or Suga. Whatever you want is fine, really.” Why did he have to be so damn _awkward?_  He paused, eyes glued to the soap bar in his hands. “Did you just move here? I haven’t seen you around.”

 

“From Ba Sing Se, yeah. It’s a lot different. A lot smaller.”

 

Daichi was right. Sugawara had been to the Earth Kingdom city only one time before, during his training to be a diplomatic. It was loud and busy, full of shouting merchants and stone tracks.

 

“I like it more here, though.” Daichi said a moment later, making Sugawara realize he had never replied. He smiled at Sugawara, biting his lip. “The view is great from here.”

 

Suga blushes, nearly dropping the soap bar again. He knows he should say something, but he can’t bring himself to. He likes Daichi’s attention focused solely on him. His deep brown eyes hit him like a tidal wave, and when Daichi stepped forward and brushed his hands against Sugawara’s, his smile was as blinding as the sunrise.

 

“Yeah,” Sugawara breathed, before wrapping his fingers around Daichi’s hands. They’re warm and rough under his touch. “It’s not so bad from here, either.”

 

One of Daichi’s hands comes up to cup Suga’s cheek. He leans into Daichi’s touch, cheeks burning slightly. His eyes flick between Sugawara’s mouth and his eyes.

 

“Can I?” Sugawara preens at the question, light headed at the delicacy of the phrase. He’s not sure why it was even asked, because he’s melting quickly under the feather-soft touches.

 

“Yes,” A moment, and Daichi’s mouth presses against his, just as soft as his words. He closes his eyes, the darkness welcome as Daichi overwhelms his senses. By the time his heart beats again, his lips are bare. He smiling, his cheeks burning hot.

 

He can still taste him on his lips. He opens his eyes, and Daichi is watching him with a fond expression on his face. They’re holding hands again, feeling as if they will never let go.

 

“Thank you,”

 

...

 

A month passes before Sugawara can no longer taste him. He can’t explain his longing for Daichi Sawamura, or why his heart beats faster at the thought of him. But it does, and Suga needs to kiss him in the same way he needs oxygen. He’s starved for it, whinny and needy. And if Yachi notices, she only flies a bit slower than usual over the stables.

 

...

 

Sugawara recognizes the fault in his logic.

 

Rationally, it didn’t make sense to lie about Yachi being sick. He knew how much Daichi cared about the flying bison, and saying one was sick probably wasn’t his best idea. But, as he burst through the wide wooden doors, out of breath and clutching his knees, Sugawara didn’t seem to care.

 

“Daichi!” He yelled once he had almost caught his breath, but the words were still choppy. “Yachi... Sick- “

 

“Where?” Sugawara knew he could rely on Daichi, and maybe that’s why he knew the plan was full proof. Hoped it was, at least.

 

He smiled as Daichi rushed past him.

 

“The grazing field. She’s in the grazing field.”

 

Daichi was yelling questions Sugawara couldn’t follow as he pulled him down the mountain path to the field. Suga hoped this wouldn’t blow up in his face.

 

“Do you have any idea what’s wrong with her?” Daichi asked.

 

Suga was breathing hard, choking on the words as he tripped over rocks. He wondered if it was too late to back out now. He could hurt Daichi like this, loose whatever shred of friendship bound them together. It seemed pointless at best; he could have said anything else, could have even held it in.

 

And instead, lies were falling out of his mouth as Daichi held his hand a little tighter.

 

“Everything will be fine, Suga. I can fix it, whatever it is.”

 

Sugawara speculated absently if the words weighed just as much for Daichi if they did you him. He hoped everything would be fine, because soon they were sprinting across the field and Daichi was frantically asking where Yachi was.

 

“I’m sorry, no one told you, did they?” Suga mumbled, because Yachi was gone, they all were. He knew the plan was horrible, he knew it would end like this. “All of the bison migrate together. They’re probably a couple hundred miles away.”

 

“But Yachi wouldn’t have gone if she was sick, right?” Daichi’s cheeks were bright pink from exhaustion. “She’s fine, isn’t she?”

 

“Yes? Last time I checked up on her, she was.” He sat down in the grass. The plant matter tickled his skin. Sighing, he began ripping grass, his hands twitching into auto-pilot.

 

“Sugawara?” Daichi asked a few minutes later. It’s colder now, up in the mountains. The sun is getting low on the horizon, leaving the fields blood red. The word sounded bitter in this light, _Sugawara_ instead of Suga. Everything felt a little forced, like he was bending the sounds together. Forced, instead of how they felt in the world around him.

 

“Hmm?” His hands are grass stained and muddy. He doesn’t mind, though, can’t barely process what’s happening in front of him.

 

“Why did you do it?”

 

“I wanted to talk to you,”

 

He blinks, and by the time he opens his eyes a split second later, Daichi is holding his hand. The grass blades are crushed between his hands, and Suga feels like crying because everything he does is fucking bull shit.

 

He knows it’s an irrational thought, because it’s far from the truth. He knows he should realize this, because Kozume-sama and his guard realize this, and the executed advisors realized this, but something stops him. He can’t realize that he’s done something, because the grass clutched between their palms is tickling his hand and he _killed_ it.

 

He realizes that he’s wrong, he realizes he’s done something to this world. And as Daichi holds his hand, it almost seems like everything is perfect.

 

He stood up, one hour of silence and hand holding later. It was dark, the edges of the sky smeared with dark blues and deep purples. It’s windy, and the air is wiping his hair around his head. He freezes it, breathing slowly as he’s incased in still air. He can still hear the wind, can still feel it battering around his cage.

 

He can feel Daichi watching him. He doesn’t mind; he’s standing there and he’s feeling light headed and dizzy. He can’t see anything in the half light, but soon enough he can feel Daichi’s fingertips lightly tracing the back of his leg over his tattoos.

 

“It’s fine, Suga. I don’t mind.”

 

“I’m sorry,” His hands were cold against his tattoos.

 

“I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was way harder to write than part one, and whateven was that ending. But I tried, and i hope you like it.


End file.
